


Two Player Gayme

by Ice_cold_kills, RedXD



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Be More Chill - Freeform, Be more chill au - jobs idk?, Bisexual Chloe Valentine, Bisexual Jake Dillinger, Bisexual Jeremy Heere, Bisexual Rich Goranski, F/F, Fluff, Friends seperated, Game designer nerds, Gamer nerds, Gay Michael Mell, I've now required help from Red OOF, Ill add more of these as I go, Jeremy and Michael are idiots, Lebsian Brooke Lohst, M/M, POV Alternating, Rich is an adult kid, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Swearing, The squip returns for odd reasoning, im bad with tags, very gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-07-06 16:51:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 17,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15890112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ice_cold_kills/pseuds/Ice_cold_kills, https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedXD/pseuds/RedXD
Summary: Jeremy Heere is a 25 year old video game designer, his life is normal for the most part. He lives in an apartment with his old high school friends. Still haunting his memories is the S.Q.U.I.P ages back in high school. One day in the office he runs into a an old friend he hasn’t seen in 8 years.Michael Mell is a 25 year old video game designer, his life is boring and he lives in an apartment with high school ‘friends’. Every once in a while he thinks back to high school, and how much he misses his Player Two. He had moved schools at his Mom's wishes and lost every mean of contact with him. Then literally runs into someone he’s been waiting for.





	1. The New Job

**Author's Note:**

> Hey it's Ice! I'm going to be writing this fic by myself so I hope it isn't terrible!! (also sorry this chapter is so short)
> 
> __ means a new POV
> 
> ~~ means a flashback

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ah the two Boyfs story begins

Jeremy stretched before checking his clock, 6:30 am on the dot. His new work starts at 9:00, but he wanted to make sure there’s enough time to get ready. He flung himself out of bed and landed ass-first on the floor.

“Ok, great way to start a Monday morning.” He mumbled to himself.

He got up and headed for the shower, ‘best part of the day is hot water on your face’ he always says. After he was out of the shower and dried off he threw on his work clothes. 

Then his bedroom door bursting open startled him. Luckily he was already dressed. “JEREMY YOU KNOW I CAN’T COOK HURRY UP!”

Jeremy almost forgot Christine had to be up for rehearsal this early. He shares an apartment with Christine, Rich, and Brooke. Two of whom were probably still asleep in their rooms.

“Not so loud Christine, you’ll wake the others. I’m coming in a minute okay?” Jeremy was still desperately trying to pull on his shoes.

“Don’t leave me hanging Jer!” She started to skip back to the kitchen.

“Wouldn’t dream of it Chris.” He replied before flopping onto his bed giving up on the shoes for now.

He let out a long sigh. First day in a new work environment, boy this is gonna fun. Jeremy finally managed to get his annoying shoes on and dragged himself into the kitchen.

“CAN WE HAVE PANCAKES!!??” Christine was still incredibly perky considering it was about 7:00 in the morning.

He yawned before he replied. “You know it Chris.”

Just as Jeremy was getting the mix and tools out two people came bursting into the kitchen.  
“WE HEARD PANCAKES!!” Rich and Brooke said in unison.

“I don’t know how Chris yelling the first time didn’t get you guys up.” He was focusing on mixing the batter.

“Because we care about pancakes, and only pancakes.” Rich retaliated. 

Jeremy chuckled. “You guys are sooo weird.”

“You are too dork.” Brooke bumped his shoulder slightly.

“You’re gonna make me drop the batter git, GIT!” He was basically shoving them out of the kitchen.

“Whatever you say Jer, hurry up at least!” Rich was probably the most impatient of the bunch. 

The three plopped on the couch as Jeremy finished up, he decided to add bacon as an extra treat. For some reason he was the only one in this apartment that knew how to cook whatsoever. He didn’t find it very fair, but accepted it.

“Come get your shit hooligans” Jeremy dropped the pancakes and bacon on the table, making sure to grab some of his own before everything was demolished.

About 45 minutes later they were finally done eating, at least everyone cleaned up after themselves. Jeremy checked his watch and it read, 8:13 am.

“Sorry guys, but I have to head out.” Jeremy was already scrambling to get his keys.

“Same here! They hate it if your late, tata!!” Christine grabbed her own keys and basically bounced out the door. Jeremy followed.

Once he was in his car driving to work the stress was building up. He hope he was dressed ok, was he sweating already? No. Don’t focus on that, just get to work and it’ll be fine!

40 minutes later he made it to the building, it was insanely tall and it gave Jeremy really, really bad nerves. Still, he grabbed his new badge and went to swipe the lock.

__

Michael got stuck in traffic, he was going to be late for work in only his second week there! He banged his head against the wheel when the cars started moving again. Okay, thank god. He checked the car clock and it was 8:48 am. Alright, no big deal just need to get inside the building right in front of him in 10 minutes. Super easy, right? 

It wasn’t easy, but he still made it in time. He had to maneuver between cars to find the parking lot, but it wasn’t that bad. He walked to the door with 1 minute to spare.

Michael swiped his badge on the lock, it let him in immediately. When he got inside he could see someone struggling to get in from the opposite set of doors. Being the great person he was he opened the door for them, they said a fast "thank you" before running off. 

“Must be new, newer than me.” Michael laughed at his own comment earning some stares. Then he realized he was still holding the door open, quickly he released it and rushed to his seat. Time for a long day of coding. 

Michael yawned for the fifth time that minute, he might have forgotten to sleep last night. Still he pushed through until his end time of 4:30 pm. Well he thought he did. 

He felt someone shaking him, but he didn’t know why. His glasses had fallen off so when he turned around he couldn’t see who was bothering him. 

“Hey dude, it’s time to go home. Also here’s what I assume are your glasses.”

Michael perked up. “O-oh, I wasn’t asleep was I?” He took his glasses from the stranger.

“Totally were.” He snickered. “But not too long, no one else seemed to notice.” With that the stranger walked outside, supposedly to go home. 

Michael rolled up his uncomfortable long sleeved uniform and checked the time from his watch. Damn it really was 4:30, he’ll have to thank that guy sometime. He looked at his arm where his tatoo lay, the one that matched with his best friend he completely lost contact with. He balled his hands into fists and stood up sharply. Walked out the door, nearly forgetting to clock out. He drove back to his apartment upset as always, he gave up searching for the Heere kid years ago, but he still missed him.  
Walking into his apartment he was greeted by Jake, Chloe, and Jenna. 

“I’m home hoes.” Michael yelled as he dropped his backpack next to the door and bolted for his room.

“Get out here and cook us dinner damn it!” Chloe was pounding on the door, along with Jenna and Jake he assumed.

“LET ME CHANGE HOLY DAMN.” They backed off at that. 

Michael changed into a casual shirt and sweatpants then went to the kitchen sluggishly.  
He nearly dropped a glass plate and two cups. Even in his tired state he whipped up some burgers and fries for everyone. He nearly passed out on the kitchen table when his friends finally bugged him.

“Didn’t sleep?” They said in unison.

This has been asked far too many times before. “All of you know I haven’t slept well in 8 years.”

“It’s just concerning okay Micah, we care!!” Jenna exclaimed.

Jake added, “Yeah dude, you really need to sleep more.” 

“I don’t need another lecture on my unhealthy habits everyone, now if you don’t mind.” He stood up to walk over to his room and watch TV, but barely made it to the couch before he was out cold.

The others were snickering amongst themselves after that.

__

Jeremy made it home at 5:15 pm. Everyone was eating leftovers so he didn’t have to cook for once. He heated up his wild wings from two nights ago, it was mild because.. Well his tongue was a wimp not him!! Either way he took it into his room and played Pacman until 10 pm. He threw his trash away then flopped on his bed.

He made sure his alarm for 6 was set then he threw his phone on the charger. He cuddled into his blankets and was out within minutes. Something small quietly buzzed past his head after a while, but he took as a dream and ignored it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOf sorry it's short


	2. Retro Drinks & Pizza Stinks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy has to be a kid
> 
> Michael need his retro shit
> 
> Had to re-post bc half of the chapter didn't save

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two boys with days off, oof.
> 
> Thanks to red for the slight help this chapter.

Michael woke to the sound of an air horn in his ear. Why did he set that as his alarm sound? Well too lazy to change it now. He got up and saw his clock read 7:15 am. Just have to survive this Friday then the next week is free. 

He hasn’t seen the stranger all week, Michael really wanted to thank him. He’s also working on getting decent enough sleep so he wouldn’t pass out at his desk. Still 4 hours is the most he can manage.

He got dressed in a red button up long sleeve (he still didn’t know why they had such a dumb dress code, sweatshirts are better) and threw on his work pants. At least the pants were comfortable. Once dressed he ran to the kitchen.

No one seemed to be awake for the first time in forever. Michael just heated up some frozen waffles and called it a day. He was out the door by 8:12 and driving away at 8:16. About 35 minutes later he swiped his card and waltzed into the building to his seat.

“Just one more day, one more.” He whispered to himself. 

Michael only had to work today then he had a week off. It was going to be awesome! Then out of the corner of his eye he noticed someone walking in. It was the same guy from Monday! He gave the man a quick wave before being overcome with awkwardness and turned towards his desk.

“Must never see him because I’m basically running late everyday.” Michael had a thing for talking to himself.

He planned to say thank you once the work day ended, but something else happened.

__

Jeremy waved back and walked over to his desk quickly. Why was the guy waving at him? Doesn’t matter he had a game to work on. Before starting he rolled up his sleeve, revealing his pacman tattoo. He sighed as he rolled his sleeve back down, ignoring memories. He began working.

At around 2:30 his eyes were starting to hurt. Jeremy didn’t exactly get the best sleep last night. He gave his eyes a short break then continued. A headache started to make its way into his head. When 4:30 came along he didn’t notice, because he was nearly drooling on his keyboard. 

“Hey bro, get up.” Someone was tapping his shoulder. 

Jeremy was too tired to get his bearings. “5 more minutes..” 

The person laughed at that. The laugh was a little familiar. Has he heard it before? Probably not. “Dude it’s 4:30.” His voice was calm, Jeremy appreciated that.

When he finally pulled his head up and turned around, he realized it was the same guy. He spun his head around to face the computer rapidly. His face was burning and he didn’t know why.

“T-thanks.” Was all he managed.

“Thanks to you too.” Another chuckle. “For Monday.”

Oh right, guess they kinda swapped positions.

Jeremy stood up and yawned. “Thanks again, I’ll be heading out now. Goodbye!” He sprinted out the door before he could make a fool of himself.

__

He desperately tried to give him his name but the man was running away before he got the chance. Sighing, he grabbed his bag and walked out to his car. Michael would have to wait a week to try and confront the stranger again. Great.

Michael banged his head against the wheel for the third time in 2 minutes. Traffic was utterly terrible, he decided to take a detour at the closest exit for dinner. Wild wings of course. 

He got take out for himself and his roommates then drove home. As soon as Michael opened the door he was basically tackled.

“Jeez all of you are animals!” Michael set the other’s food down and took his to his bedroom.

Turning the TV on to random cartoons he sat on his bed and ate slowly. He had no clue what he was going to do this week.

__

Jeremy was bored out of his mind. Everyone was given a week off for minor construction on the building. Yet he didn’t know how to spend it.

He supposed he could try the arcade, or maybe Super Splashes. He sighed, everything sounded boring. His roommates thought otherwise though. 

“WERE GOING TO CHUCK - E - CHEESE BOIS!!” 

He nearly fell off his bed. 

Rich was shouting at everyone very, very loudly. Jeremy walked out of his room to find everyone now sitting on the living room couch.

“Rich I thought we established you weren’t 6 years old.” Brooke looked utterly pissed that she was woken up so early.

“Hey! Don’t make fun of my age meanie!”

Ah right, Rich was born on a leap year. He was 26, but technically was only 6. Honestly, Jeremy wasn’t as surprised by Rich’s statement as you’d think.

“Hold up, why are we going to chuck-e-cheese?” Jeremy was honestly wondering why.

“Duh, we all have the day off and I want to pretend I’m a kid!” Rich, the adult kid.

“Whatever you say Rich.” Christine’s usually perky self was hidden beneath how tired she was.

“Can we go later though, I need beauty sleep.” Brooke was whining. 

“Ugh fine only because they only open at 10, go back to bed bit- I MEAN BROOKE.” Rich was now running for his life.

“GET BACK HERE YOU TINY ASS HOE.” Brooke had grabbed her shoe and was chasing Rich down.

“Those two will never grow up.” Christine was already heading back to her room.

Jeremy grabbed some doritos and plopped on the couch. “Yeah, but they keep this place alive at least.” 

__

The bell above the door chimes as he walks in. Time for the retro shit he loves. 

“Hey Michael! Whatcha looking for today?” His hook-up was expecting him.

“Crystal Pepsi and Cheez Balls Nick.” Michael slipped a 20 onto the counter.

“Alright coming right up.” Nick entered the back room.

Michael was getting bored so he decided to scroll through his phone aimlessly. Twitter, boring. Snapchat, boring. Instagram, boring. He ended up in his gallery, all his pictures were blurry or accidently taken. Then he saw one that almost made him drop his phone. 

There it was, he was staring at the blurry faces of him and his high school friend. Memories threatened to resurface. No. Not today satan. He turned off the phone and stuffed it in his pocket. He wasn’t going to cry, not in Nick’s shop. 

“Okay I got the good stuff Micah.” Nick smirks.

“This isn’t a drug exchange just give me stuff bro.” Michael faked a laugh.

“Alright, alright. Here.” 

He took the snacks and exited the store and drove back home. The drive was long and quiet, it left a lot of room for thinking. He hated that. 

When he got home his friends were all gathered around the TV.  
“Michael! Join us right now, we’re watching Heathers.” 

Okay that sounded like a command. He joined them on the couch with his new goodies. Before fully settling in, he grabbed his phone and took a selfie. A selfie with his old-school snacks. He grins like an idiot as he types in a caption. ‘YO BITCHES LOOK AT THESE NEW OLDIE SNACKS! THEY’VE BEEN SOLD OUT FOR AT LEAST A CENTURY!’ It posts and loads in next to his other recent photos of him and retro snacks. He rereads a caption. ‘I GOT THE GOOD SHIT!’

God Michael’s an idiot.

__

Jeremy already had a headache from the screaming children. Sadly, Rich was holding them hostage there.

“Anyone up for some pizza!” Rich

“Anyone up to go home?” Brooke mumbled.

“That’s not the spirit, come on! ITS CHUCK - E - CHEESE!!” 

“Rich we’ve been here for hours bud.” Christine added.

In fact they have been there for 5 hours 37 minutes and 25 seconds. 

Jeremy groans. “Let’s just get the pizza, then maybe he’ll release us.”

“I’ll think about it. NOW COME ON I’M HUNGRY!” Rich whines like a two year old.

“Alright, but you’re paying.” Brooke glared at Rich.

They got their pizza and sat down. It was utterly disgusting, but Jeremy didn’t complain. He was ready for the sweet release of freedom.

When they had finished Rich dragged them through some last rounds of DDR. Then he finally let them all go home.

__

“I’m going straight to bed goodnight.” Christine was already walking to her room.

Rich Smirked. “Haha, straight. That’s a good one.” 

“You’re gayer than all of us Rich, we get it.” Brooke was speed texting as she walked to her room.

“Then there were two.” 

Nope, Jeremy wasn’t dealing with this tonight.

“Goodnight Rich.” He ran into his room without looking back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's short ;w; I'll try to update as much as I can


	3. Texting Frenzy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael a dork  
> Jeremy's also a dork

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh I'm doing my best not to rush this, but once again it is my first fic alone so sorry if it isn't the best!

It was time to go back to work. Michael was excited, and not excited at the same time. On one hand he was glad he’d get a chance to introduce himself to his co-worker. On the other hand, he had to go back to work. Sure coding was fun, but it can get boring. Either way he suited up and went on his way.

 

__

 

It was Monday again, time for work. Jeremy couldn’t wait to go back. His three devil room-mates had been dragging him around all week. Anything was better than Brooke screaming about makeup, or Rich beating him in arcade games, or Christine making him watch her play rehearsals. So he buttoned up his shirt, walked out the door, and drove away.

 

__ 

 

Michael was tapping his pencil nervously. He decided to introduce himself after work, since he didn’t want to be a nuisance. Butttt, this made it incredibly difficult to concentrate whatsoever. Around 1:00 he gave up and started doodling in photoshop. 

 

When 4:30 came around he had a decent piece. He could always make up for lost time tomorrow.  He saved the image to the computer then switched it off. 

 

“Come on Michael, you can do this. It’s just a person.” Michael whispered nervously to himself.

 

He found his way to the stranger’s desk and noticed he was already leaving. Shoot.

 

‘Don’t miss your shot.’ he thought.

 

He quickly walked up behind the man and tapped his shoulder. “Uh hey!” The man turned around at that.

 

“Oh hi, sorry I was just leaving.”

 

**Stop wasting his time.**

 

**You don’t need friends.**

 

Michael visibly shook his head. “I-I just wanted to introduce myself. Considering previous encounters.” He laughed nervously.

 

__

 

Jeremy was staring into the eyes of his coworker. Why couldn’t he figure out what to say? Now’s not the time to be blanking.

 

“Oh, uh. Yeah totally, um yeah.” Just say your damn name. “Well I’m Jeremiah.”

 

Why so formal? Ugh just go with it.

 

“Hmm, nice name. I’m Michael.” Said Michael reached to shake hands.

 

Instead Jeremy gave an awkward fist bump. When he realized what he did he mentally smacked himself.

 

“S-sorry about that, I’m not good with new people.” 

 

(Jesus these two are idiots-)

 

Just then Michael took out a piece of paper and started writing on it. 

 

“Here’s my number in case any *business* things come up.” He winked.

 

“Yeah of course!” Jeremy stuffed the paper in his bag. “T-thanks Michael, nice meeting you.” 

 

__

 

Holy shit when did he get so smoothe? Michael finally knows this guys name and gave him his number. SCORE!

 

“Nice meeting you too, Jeremiah.” He smiled as the other boy took off towards the exit.

 

**Ah getting your hopes up I see.**

 

**Why would you ever do that?**

 

**It’s clearly not your Jeremy.**

 

“Erg, shut up for once.” He whispered as he exited the building.

 

Before he made it to the car his phone buzzed.

 

**Unknown Number:** Hey, it’s Jeremiah.. Thought I’d message so you can add my contact as well.

 

Should he reply? Did this need a reply? Was this a mistake in the first place!?

 

**Michael:** Thanks

 

He was rambling to himself now “That seems ok, not too laid back, not too formal, god calm down it’s just a COWORKER.”

 

__

 

**Jeremy:** Oh yeah, nice drawing by the way. 

 

Oh my lord that sounds creepy, even though you sit fairly close it’s still weird why did he send it in the first place, why, why, WhY!?

 

**Michael:** Thank you, it’s my second favorite thing next to video games and coding lol

 

Did- Did Michael just lol him?

 

**Jeremy:** Sir lol is a dead meme I retract my statement.

 

Yeah, just play it cool. Stay calm and-

 

**Michael:** If lol is a dead meme then so is texting itself.

 

**Jeremy:** Alright alright, got me there. Lol is valid, there.

 

**Michael:** Why thank you kind sir.

 

Why is he still texting this person ahhhh.

 

**Jeremy:** But it still isn’t as valid as pacman memes.

 

**Haha. Such a geek.**

 

**L O S E R.**

 

That word was stuck in Jeremy’s head. But he learned to ignore it. Plus this Michael guy wouldn’t think he was a.. The L word right?

 

**Michael:** Pacman memes are the best dude! Didn’t think you’d like vintage stuff.

 

Well that question is answered.

 

**Jeremy:** Well duh, loving vintage things is the only way to live.

 

God he is a nerd.

 

__

 

They’ve somehow been chatting for a few hours now, this guy was actually really cool. Michael was actually enjoying himself.

 

**Michael:** Yeah, I always have a stash of 90’s crap in my room lmao

 

**Jeremiah:** Ha reminds me of some dude I knew in high school that sold a bunch of retro stuff.

 

**Michael:** Psh, I could tell you my hook up if you don’t spread it around.

 

Oh boy was this a bad idea?

 

* **Michael** has sent a location*

 

**Michael:** Backroom, tell em Michael sent you ;)

 

Did- oh my lord why a winky face. That is so cringy.

 

**Jeremiah:** LOL I think I used to hang out at that place all the time, they have some cool shit.

 

**Michael:** You got that right! Normal in the front, party in the back

 

**Jeremiah:** Ayeee

 

Michael decided he would show his recent treats, might as well amirite?

 

* **Michael** has sent a photo*

 

**Michael:** My latest treasure, CRYSTAL PEPSI!

 

Michael waited for an answer, but didn’t get one. Damn did he say something wrong?

 

**Of course you did.**

 

**When do ever do something right?**

 

**You scared him off like everyone else.**

 

“UGH SHUT UP!” He accidentally screamed out loud. 

 

Soon he heard someone knocking on his door. Dropping his phone he scrambled to open it.

 

“You alright Mikey?” It was Jake, the girls were at a movie or something. 

 

“Yeah just got annoyed at something, it’s fine Jake.” It wasn’t really but he wanted Jake to leave.

 

“If you say so, I’ll be in the living room ight?” He had genuine concern on his face.

 

“Yep.” Then he closed his door and locked it.

 

He flopped face first into his bed, rolling over he grabbed his phone once more. He actually had a notification, nice!

 

***Jeremiah** has sent a picture*

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think in general my chapters are going to be fairly short, so sorry!!  
> And please ignore the second set of notes below idk how to get rid of them D;


	4. The Good Shit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael is gay as fuck
> 
> Jeremy is gay
> 
> Michael really wants some shit
> 
> Jeremy is a nervous wreck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one is so short but now I have help so these should be coming out faster! Thanks for being patient!!

**Michael:** Omg you have mountain dew red!? I haven’t been able to get my hands on that for years!

 

**Jeremy:** Yeah, I always have a stash no matter what.

 

**Michael:** Dang we should trade items some time lmao

 

Was Michael suggesting meeting outside of work? Like casually? Oh god he’s too socially awkward for this. So of course he agrees.

 

**Jeremy:** Yeah maybe

 

**Michael:** Awesome!

 

Jeremy feels a small twitch. What the hell was that? Maybe nothing..

 

**Jeremy:** Well I have to go.. Cya at work?

 

**Michael:** Yeah  _ bring the good stuff with ya. _

 

Jeremy snorts at that. Boy did this guy have a sense of humor. Reminded him of someone... Probably not.

 

**Jeremy:** We’ll see, night Michael

 

**Michael:** G’Night

 

__ 

 

Michael chugs another gulp of coffee and types at the keyboard. He’s on an inspiration streak. He adds a new strip of code. Suddenly someone taps his shoulder and he nearly jumps out of his seat.

 

“Michael?”

 

“Oh, Hi Jaxon.” Michael was confused, why was Jaxon over here?

 

“The 2:00 meeting? You’re late.” Jaxon walks off at that.

 

Oh crap that’s right, Michael was so focused on his work it blanked his mind.

 

“Ah right, I’m on my way.”

 

_ FuckFuckFuckFuckFuck. _

 

He bursts through the door to find himself stared down by the entire room. Well great. Now he’s going to be the ‘Dramatic Entrance Guy’. Or even worse, the ‘Late Guy.’ He gulps down his self annoyance. He sits at the end of the table next to someone. He glances to see it’s Jeremiah. Jeremiah is looking at him and gives him a smile. 

 

“Wasn’t checking the time, huh?” He whispers.

 

Michael nods. Got that right.

 

“It’s alright, I barely remembered heh.” Jeremiah turns back to the others.

 

“Great of you to join us Michael.” Katelyn (The Script Manager) dead-pans him.

 

“Sorry, I’m sorry!” 

 

Katelyn starts the meeting and talks about random developments. He watches as others speak about shit he already knows. Michael’s ears perk up when he hears Jeremiah’s name.

 

“And now Jeremiah, your proposition.” 

 

Michael watches as the man sitting next to him slowly stands up. 

 

__

 

Jeremy feels his heart rate go up. Bump. Bump. Bump.

 

He glances back at Michael. Michael gives him a big encouraging grin along with a thumbs up. It’s cringey, but somehow comforting. Jeremy returns the smile.

 

He turns to face the room of people sitting around the long brown table. Clearing his throat, he begins. “My proposal is we could make Ysabelle um she could have previously been a member of Parker’s court. The player could be uh trying to get her back. And well um so this could give the player an option to protect her or to protect Emma from Calum. We could um the player’s decision could affect his um well it could affect his link with the Wolf Clan and the Princess.. and uh yeah.”

 

Jeremy mentally slaps himself. He is terrible at getting his point across in front of people. Wait.. he feels a small tinge of pain on his face and realizes he  _ actually _ slapped himself. If this wasn’t already embarrassing, it sure as hell was now.

 

Katelyn dismisses everyone and people start to pack up.

 

He feels a hand on his shoulder.

 

“Hey it’s alright, You weren’t terrible. I’ve had plenty of awful presentations, between you and me I’m not great in front of a crowd either.” Michael smiles reassuringly at him. 

 

Jeremy feels his heart rate rise. Bump bump. Bump bump. He gives an awkward smile back, but he knows it isn’t as bright and great as Michael’s.

 

“T-Thanks, Michael. You still want to t-trade for the r-red mountain dew?” Fuck. Why was he cursed with a nervous stutter he couldn’t get rid of? 

 

Michael doesn’t seem to care though. “Of course! I did request the  _ good stuff. _ ” He smirks and wiggles his eyebrows.

 

A loud snort comes from Jeremy. Michael was just a ray of sunshine making Jeremy feel less embarrassed.

 

“Okay, well want to meet sometime this week?” He holds his breath. What if Michael finds it weird? What if he doesn’t want to meet up? What if Jeremy is wasting his time? What if-

 

“Yeah man! That would be so cool. Want to hang out afterwards? I heard there’s this cool new movie in theaters or we could go the mall arcade.” 

 

He wanted to spend  _ more _ time than needed with him? Jeremy felt the small smile on his face grow wider. 

 

“Yeah!”

 

They chat on the way back to their offices.

 

—

 

Michael waves as Jeremiah walks a little ways down towards his own office. Michael falls back into his office chair and puts a hand on his heart.

 

Bump bump. 

 

(AN:His Gaydar is VERY HIGH  ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) )

 

Damn it. Why is he so gay? Jeremiah is so cute and it’s too much for Michael to handle. Not to mention the idea for Ysabelle is brilliant. He sighs.q

 

His clock reads 3:30, one hour left. He couldn’t even focus on work anymore. He looks at the screen of code and slams his head onto the keyboard. 

 

Jeremiah’s small smile rushes into his vision as soon as he closes his eyes.

 

They are going to hang out casually this weekend, and Michael’s gay heart is going to explode.

 

He was screwed. But isn’t he always?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading (Ignore second set of notes I can't figure out how get rid of them)


	5. Arcade Apocalypse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They finally meet up outside of work wOO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gay. UIFWBFWENUI THIS IS TO MAKE UP FOR NOT POSTING FOR SO LONG ENJOY EVERYONE <33

If Jeremy has ever felt like a teenage girl going on her first date before, he sure does now.

 

He throws another shirt across the room. Should he dress casual? Probably, but how casual? Are flip flops too friendly? Is his sweater not cool looking? Of course it isn’t. What about.. UGH WHY DOESN’T HE KNOW WHAT TO WEAR!? He sighs. Michael is no doubt going to look good no matter what.

 

“Fuck it.” 

 

Jeremy grabs a navy blue sweater, a striped shirt, and his favorite jeans. Alright this doesn’t look too bad! He throws on some adidas and looks in the mirror. He brings a hand to his face to pinch the bridge of his nose. This isn’t a date. So why does he care so much? And why was he  _ so damn excited _ .

 

“You going on a date or something?” 

 

Jeremy turns his head to see Rich leaning against the door frame, arms crossed. An amused smirk was on his face.

 

Heat rises up to Jeremy’s cheeks. “N-No!”

 

“Then why are you freaking out over your outfit like a huge pussy.”

 

Jeremy’s shoulders slump. “Wow, way to be encouraging.”

 

Rich just shrugs, smirk still on his face. “Truth hurts.”

 

“Well for  _ your _ information, I’m meeting up with a coworker.”

 

Rich raises an eyebrow.

 

“A  _ hot _ coworker?”

 

Jeremy glares. “A  _ coworker. _ ”

 

Rich’s smirk grows.

 

“A  _ hot _ coworker.”

 

Jeremy sighs. “A hot coworker..”

 

Rich claps his hands. “KNEW IT! Now in all seriousness you look fine Jer, GO GET EM TIGER!”

 

Jeremy facepalms. “Rich… But what if.. like I don’t know.. what if he doesn’t want to hang out afterwards anymore?”

 

Rich grabs Jeremy by the legs and precedes to drag him down the hall.

 

“RICH WHAT THE HELL, LET ME GO YOU FUCKING HEATHEN!”

 

Rich smirks and throws him out the door, slamming it in his face. He screams a, “GO BE GAY OUT OF THE APARTMENT JEREMY!” through the door.

 

Jeremy pouts, cheeks red. He bangs on the door. “MY WALLET!”

 

A few seconds later a wallet along with a pair of keys is thrown at Jeremy’s face before the door slams again.

 

Damn it Rich.

 

—

 

Michael tugs at the sleeve of his hoodie. He decided on a dark red casual hoodie and jeans. It wasn’t his favorite patched one, but he was too scared that Jeremy would think that it’s dorky. 

 

God why does he feel the same way he does before a date? Not that he’s had many, but it feels the same. Why is his heart so fucking gay? This isn’t okay. 

 

This is just a hangout session.. thing.. with a really cute.. and hot.. and nice.. and creative dude.. that also was his coworker.. and that he really liked to see smile. 

 

“I’m fucked.” He pounds his hand against the table.

 

“That sounds terrible.” Michael looks up to see Jeremiah smiling that adorable small smile at him. 

 

He was wearing a casual outfit, but it looked fitting for royalty on Jeremiah. 

 

“Oh, Hey Jeremiah!” Michael gives him a grin in return.

 

Jeremiah’s cheeks redden. Weird.. adorable though.. his hand comes up to scratch the back of his neck. “Um actually you can call me Jeremy..”

 

Wow. So Satan was real. A small memory of high school threatens to pop up in his head, one ending in his least favorite word. Michael shoves it away.

 

**_Loser._ **

 

Michael bites his lip.

 

Jeremy frowns in concern and puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder. 

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

Michael puts on a grin and ignores the voices and demons controlling his thoughts. 

 

“Nothing, just remembered that I have to finish some coding later. I’m good my man.”

 

“Okay.. If you say so Michael. Now..”

 

He watches as Jeremy takes out a bottle of red mountain dew.

 

Michael’s eyes widen. “Holy shit, you brought the  _ good shit.  _ Jeremy, my buddy, my man this is  _ beautiful. _ ” He then proceeds to rant about the retro drink and how it changed history.

 

Jeremy laughs the entire time, but it seems in a good way. “Michael let’s get back to the present dude.” 

 

“Right right.” Michael smirks and grabs his bag, pulling it close. He opens it, looking right and left. He slowly pulls it out. 

 

“Be careful. There could be cops.” He whispers. 

 

Jeremy snorts and they trade the cheez balls for the mountain dew. 

 

—

 

“I bet I win more games than you!” Michael proclaims.

 

Oh woah woah, so it’s gonna be that way?

 

“You’re so on.”

 

They both race to the arcade. 

 

Now out of breath they buy their tokens and enter the land of games. Both of them go towards an old pacman machine first. Michael smirks. Bump bump. Jeremy ignores his heart.

 

Michael takes a token out of his cup. “I see you’ve got an appreciation of the classics. That’s what I’m talkin about!” He shoves the token into the machine and expertly plays through the first few levels. 

 

Jeremy stares in surprise as Michael gets through the game easily. 

 

Of course. Michael is attractive, smart, funny, cheerful,  _ and _ great at video games. Jeremy hates how unfair this was. 

 

(AN: Oh my fuck THE BISEXUAL THOUGHTS AHHH  _ my mood 24/7) _

 

Once the screen flashes with ‘YOU WIN!’ tickets shuffle out out of the machine. Michael rips them out and holds his head up in pride.

 

“Bet you can’t beat that!”

 

Shoot.

 

“Bet I can!” He probably couldn’t.

 

Jeremy shoves his token in with fake confidence. He makes it to level 255 then the stress kicks in. Last level.

 

“C-C-C-Come on. C-C-C-Come on. YES!”

 

Jeremy pumps his fist in the air.  

 

The screen flashes a ‘YOU WIN!’

 

Michael places a hand on his shoulder. “How the fuck? Wow. We both got the same score.”

 

Jeremy glances over to see Michael grinning at him.

 

Damn it. That smile is too cute..

 

They walk around and play a few more games, they tied each time. Around an hour since they started playing, they both stop at the same time at a certain game.

 

“Apocalypse of the Damned.” They say in unison.

 

Then they turn to stare at each other in shock, in unison.

 

“YOU KNOW APOCALYPSE OF THE DAMNED!?” They say in unison.

 

“OF COURSE I DO! IT’S THE BEST GAME EVER!” They say in unison.

 

“STOP COPYING ME!” They say in unison.

 

“AHHHHHHHH” 

 

They both laugh until Michael eventually calms down enough to speak. “Okay okay, let me speak. How about we call a tie breaker with this game.”

 

“Alright deal, winner buys the defeated a fun dip.”

 

“Holy shit I love fun dips, DEAL!” 

 

They play until Jeremy loses a level. On purpose, but Michael doesn’t need to know that.

 

Michael grins as he sticks the fun dip stick in his mouth like a lollipop. He hums in joy as they walk out of the arcade.

Adorable. 

 

—

 

Michael sees his car growing closer and quickly turns to Jeremy. 

 

“Want to hang out again sometime?”

 

Jeremy smiles and nods. “Yeah, this was fun. You definitely are different from my roommates.” 

 

Michael thinks about Jake, Jenna, and Chloe. “Yeah, you are too. In a good way.” He adds.

 

Jeremy hums in agreement. 

 

Once they reach Michael’s car, he motions to his car. “This is my beautiful girl. The world’s most amazing PT cruiser, Marley.”

 

“O-okay, is that based on Bob Marley lol.” 

 

If eyes could turn to stars, then this would be one of those cases. Michael shrieks in happiness and nods. “BOB MARLEY! YOU KNOW HIM?! HE’S ONLY  _ THE _ BEST SINGER EVER!”

 

“Y-Yeah I do, well nice c-car I’ll text you later?” 

 

“Of course, my buddy!”

 

They wave and part ways. 

 

Michael smiles as he remembers Jeremy’s grin and light red cheeks. His stomach fills with butterflies.

 

Only to then bang his head against the wheel. “I have a fucking crush.. on my coworker. Wow. Great. Rest in peace me.”

 

He is even more screwed than he thought.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I promise they stop being idiots soon :')


	6. Idiots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hmmmm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow this was fun to write

It’s Sunday morning and Jeremy wakes to a text from Michael.

 

**Michael:** Hey! So my roommates are all going to be out today and I have a massive stack of video games to play. Wanna come over and play? I even have  _ the og _ Apocalypse of the Damned.

 

Jeremy feels his cheeks heat up. No way is he saying no to this.

 

**Jeremy:** That’d be awesome! What time are you thinking?

 

**Michael:** Now? Whenever my dude. Just text me when you’re on your way. Here’s the address *****************. I can also order a pizza or something. 

 

Jeremy nervously types on the keyboard and feels his heart beat rise and cheeks heat up. Bump. Bump. Bump.

 

**Jeremy:** NO WAY! You don’t have to pay for a pizza! 

 

**Michael:** It’s cool. We’re friends so it’s chill if I pay. Plus I may not be rich, but at least no one can tell I’m the equivalent to a broke college student surviving off of cup o’ noodles.

**Michael:** ifyoutellanyoneIspendmymoneyoncheezballsand90’ssodaIwillphysicallyfightu

 

A smile grows on Jeremy’s face.

 

Sadly, a voice interrupts his bisexual ass from fawning over a hot boy.

 

“You look like you just watched a porn.” Jeremy sees Rich staring at him from the couch. Like he is in most of these situations, he is smirking.

 

Jeremy swears he probably looks like a tomato right now. “RICH!? I- No I was not watching  _ that.” _

 

“Oh I know, it’s that hot coworker  _ ISN'T IT _ !”

 

Sometimes Jeremy hates Rich. “I- His name is Michael..”

 

“You didn’t deny he was the hot coworker.”

 

Jeremy tries to glare, but fails. “Leave me be. He’s amazing and I’m bisexual.”

 

Rich snorts and smirks as he sits up from his flailed out position on the couch.

 

“You texting this _hot_ _coworker_ Michael of yours?” 

 

“W-well y-yeah. And he um well he asked if I wanted to come over and play video games..”

 

Rich flings a pair of keys and a wallet at him. “Go gay, sorry I mean hang out with that other nerd.”

 

“O-okay” 

 

__

 

Jeremy is an idiot and Rich is going to laugh his ass off for eternity.

 

Rich holds back his laughter smoothly.

 

“Good luck Heere.”

 

He walks to his room knowing these high school dorks are gonna have some fun. 

 

__

 

Michael lays flopped against the couch. He flips through the channels lazily. He’d already ordered a pizza, (he had to go with two different kinds since he didn’t know Jeremy’s favorite, but Jeremy seemed like a meat lover’s kind of guy anyways) and set up the video games. He had two matching galaxy cushions on the floor in front of the TV. 

 

A knock on the door stirs his attention. Probably the pizza guy. 

 

Michael stands up and walks to the door, opening it while lazily rubbing his eyes underneath his glasses.

 

“H-Hey there Michael, how’s it g-going?” 

 

Oh Fuck. Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck _ Fuck _ . He absent mindedly glances down. He feels his hair and can tell it’s messy. He looks like shit. He glances at Jeremy. Who looks like aphrodite was a guy.

 

“Wow I wasn’t ready for this.” Why does Jeremy look so FUCKING GORGEOUS??!

 

Jeremy smiles, a red coming to his cheeks. “It’s okay, I mean it’s y-your house.. or well um apartment.” 

 

Oh right. Michael looks awful. A heat rises to his cheeks. God this is embarrassing..

 

He groans and opens the door wider. “I’m going to go into my room and come out and we’re going to redo this because I know for a fact I look like shit.”

 

Jeremy chuckles and nods. “Okay.”

 

Michael walks towards his room and quickly fixes his hair throwing on the first hoodie he sees over his t-shirt. He doesn’t pay attention to the fact it has geeky patches on it. He checks the mirror once. Twice. Third time's the charm right? He checks for a fourth time anyway. He looks okay right? Probably. Eh Yolo.

 

He walks out and down the hall to see Jeremy sitting on the right cushion near the TV. 

 

Michael waves and sits down. “Hello my friend that I totally didn’t see two minutes ago!”

 

Jeremy snorts. “Hey Michael.”

 

Michael reaches for a game controller on the table. Jeremy reaches to grab the same one.

 

They both pause.

 

A few white dots.. a yellow pacman.. matching on their arms.. 

 

This isn’t a coincidence.

 

—

 

…

 

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” Both of them are screaming in unison.

 

“JER?”

 

“MICAH??”

 

“WHAT THE FUCK!”

 

“HOW- WHAT!?”

 

Then Michael bursts out laughing. It bubbles from his stomach and makes Jeremy’s heart leap. Wait. Freak out now, be Bi later. Right, right.

 

Jeremy finds himself laughing too. 

 

“WE ARE… FUCKING… IDIOTS!” Michael proclaims through wheezes and laughs.

 

“OH MY FUCKING...GOD I KNOW!” 

 

Jeremy decides to pull Michael in for the biggest fucking hug he has ever given someone.

 

They stay that way for what seems like forever, just enjoying each others warmth. Jeremy hears a few small sniffles and looks down to see Michael crying in the hug.

 

“Micah? You okay?”

 

“You have no idea how much I  _ fucking  _ missed you Jer.”

 

That makes Jeremy tear up.

 

“I  _ fucking  _ missed you too.” 

 

They sob and hug. They talk about their lives from the past years. They play Apocalypse of the Damned. 

 

The doorbell rings. 

 

Michael grabs his wallet and starts to stand up. 

 

Jeremy takes this as a chance. He can’t ignore the fact that he has a crush on his coworker. He also has a crush on his best friend. 

 

Welp, later he can be gay.

 

“I’ll pay.”

 

Michael frowns. “No way, I’ll pay.”

 

(AN: Yes I had to make that rhyme)

 

“I’ll pay.”

 

“You’re my guest.”

 

“I should’ve realized by the damn PT cruiser.”

 

“I’m just naturally dumb.”

 

“Then I’ll pay and you can go to school.”

 

“I need to learn money management.”

 

“No you don’t.”

 

“Yes, I do.”

 

“Um. Are you going to pay?” The pizza delivery man says from the door.

 

“I’LL PAY!” Both of the boys scream in unison.

 

Jeremy and Michael look at each other and then at the pizza man. Next thing you know, they’re both sprinting towards the delivery guy.

 

Jeremy has never been more thankful to be tall. He reaches the man first and shoves money in his face, grabbing the pizza box.

 

“HA, I PAID!”

 

Michael snorts and flops onto the ground. “Fine fine, you win.”

 

“God I can’t believe it’s you.”

 

“Me neither, this honestly feels like a dream.”

 

“I’m glad it isn’t Micah, NOW LET’S BEAT LEVEL 9!” 

 

“HELL YEAH!”

 

__

 

They continued with Apocalypse of the Damned for a few more hours. And now the pizza is well past finished.  

 

Michael feels a plop on his shoulder. He looks to see Jeremy asleep. Damnit it’s fucking cute.

 

He yawns himself and Jeremy mumbles tiredly. “Slep..”

 

Michael moves to get up and go to bed. 

 

“Stay..”

 

Well fuck.

 

He decides to sleep on the cushions that night. Swinging an arm around Jeremy, he tries to fall asleep too. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *insert lenny face*


	7. Late Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> owO didnt have red go over this so i hope it isnt shitty oOf

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have fun theorizing the plot of this lol

Jeremy opens his eyes. Where is he again? He glances to the side and feels his heart stop. Michael is asleep beside him. His glasses are tilted to the side, nearly fallen off his face. Damn it’s cute.

 

Jeremy looks around, only for his eyes to stop when he sees someone who looks similar to.. Chloe? Chloe from highschool is sitting on the couch. She has her phone in hand and is typing away.

 

Without looking at Jeremy, she raises a hand and waves. “Hey Jeremy.”

 

Jeremy feels his cheeks heat up as he remembers Michael beside him. “H-hey Chloe..?”

 

She nods with a growing smirk. “Yep. So you and Michael had sex?”

 

If humans could be tomatoes, Jeremy would be one right now. “W-What?! N-no o-of course n-not! What the h-hell Chloe!”

 

Chloe’s smirk only grows. Why does this remind him of his conversations with Rich.. “Uhuh. I’m guessing you were the ‘date’ that made Michael shove us all out yesterday?”

 

“CHLOE!” Jeremy turns to see Michael now fully awake and cheeks extremely red. His glasses are still tilted and they slide a little farther down his face as he screams.

 

Chloe finally looks up from her phone only to raise an eyebrow and then glance back down. “You didn’t deny it Michael.”

 

Jeremy hears a shriek and sees Michael get up to launch himself at Chloe and start wrestling with her.

 

A few moments later, who Jeremy could only guess is Jake, walks into the room from the hall. “Hey Michael, you have work in half an hour dingus.”

 

Oh shit. “FUCK I HAVE TO GO BACK TO MY APARTMENT!”

 

Michael shrieks again. “DAMN JUST BORROW MY EXTRA UNIFORM! C’MON I’LL DRIVE LES’ GO!”

 

The next half an hour is a rush of shrieking, changing, driving, and chugging coffee.

 

Jeremy is trying his _goddamn_ best to ignore how much the clothes he's wearing smell like Michael..

 

They both check in and wave quickly before heading to their offices. Only for Jeremy to not be able to focus on shit because he can’t stop thinking about yesterday.

 

—

 

Michael has never felt so gay in his life. He slams his head against the keyboard. WHY IS JEREMY SO FUCKING HOT.

 

He takes out his sketchbook and doodles some of the latest game characters.

 

Michael draws a quick sketch of Jeremy after he finishes some of the characters. Then he draws Jeremy again. And again. And again.. until he has over 30 doodles of Jeremy.

 

(AN: This is me in school but with my gf’s oc wHEEzE)

 

(Other AN: sAmE)

 

He hears a voice.

 

“That’s pretty good. It’s of Jeremy right?”

 

Michael looks up to see Jaxon grinning at him. He extends a water bottle towards him.

 

His cheeks immediately feel on fire. “W-well yeah..” Michael takes a sip of the water.

 

“So. You gay for him?”

 

Michael spits the water. “W-WHAT!?”

 

“You are then? Cool. It’ll be nice for me and Damien to not be the only gay ass couple in this department.” Jaxon winks.

 

Sometimes, Michael really wishes he could dig a hole and stay in it forever. “J-Jaxon, w-we’re just friends!”

 

“Who’s just friends?” Michael glances behind Jaxon to see Jeremy. Oh fucking hell.

 

“ME AND THIS WATER BOTTLE! WE ARE GOOD OL’ BUDDIES AIN’T THAT RIGHT BOB!” Michael all but screams.

 

Jaxon smirks and walks off whistling innocently.

 

As he walks away, Michael slams his sketchbook shut. “W-What did you need Jer, Jeremy, my buddy, my man!”

 

“Not like _my_ man, but like my man amirite!” Michael wants to die in a hole.

 

Jeremy raises an eyebrow in confusion. “I was w-wanting to give you the description for the latest character. You’re on the d-design crew right?”

 

Michael wheezes. “Yeah! Can I see this amazing description?”

 

Jeremy nods quickly and hands over a sheet of paper. Michael quickly reads over it and opens his sketchbook (at the back just so the Jerbear drawings were safe).

 

He grabs a pencil and pen and speedily sketches a character matching the description.

 

Woah this isn’t too bad! He creates a few alternate designs to show and drops the pencil in satisfaction.

 

“Now this is what I call a character.” Michael hands the sketches over for Jeremy to see.

 

He watches as Jeremy’s eyes widen. “Dang Micah, this is exactly what I pictured! It’s beautiful.”

 

“Thanks. Nice character by the way.” Michael adjusts his glasses smoothly. He ignores his cheeks that feel like those really flaming hot cheetos.

 

“T-thanks. Can I see some more of your sketches?”

 

Well screw being cool. “Wait what?” He feels his cheeks heat up even more.

 

“Your s-sketches. Can I see more of them?”

 

Michael grabs the sketchbook and opens it at the beginning (the Jerbear drawings are at the middle). “Sure, but they aren’t that great..”

 

He watches as Jeremy flips through the first few. His eyes scan over every inch of the page looking fascinated.

 

“Micah, these are great. How come you never showed me any art of yours in high school?”

 

“Heh, it used to be just a hobby ya know? Plus I was embarrassed by it back then soo.”

 

Michael was not as good of an artist back in high school as he is now. His old drawings were _embarrassing._

 

“You definitely have to s-show me more sometime!” Holy fuck Jeremy’s smile is slowly killing him.

 

“We’ll see Jer.”

 

“Gotta head back c-cya Micah.” Michael watches as Jeremy speed walks to his desk.

 

He face plants once again into the keyboard once Jeremy is out of sight.

 

__

 

Finally Jeremy was home from work, he walked in the door with a dopey smile on his face.

 

“HEY JEREMY HOW DID YOUR DATE GO?”

 

Jeremy jumped and fell flat on his ass.

 

“Ouch what the hell?”

 

He looked up to see Rich accompanied by Brooke and Christine towering over him. Rich offered Jeremy a hand and he stood up.

 

“We want to know how your date with Mr. Mell went!”

 

All of them wiggled their eyebrows.

 

“First of all it w-wasn’t a date! Second of all h-how the fuck do you guys know it was M-Michael?!”

 

The three of them stared at each other.

 

“Rich figured it out immediately and told us.” Brooke stated as if it was obvious.

 

Jeremy could feel heat rising to his face.

 

“Am I seriously t-that fucking dumb? Can’t even recognize my own best friend.”

 

He feels a sharp zap coursing through his arms.

 

“GAHH!” Jeremy falls to his knees.

 

“Wait fuck, Jeremy are you alright?” Rich helps him stand.

 

“Y-yeah just some pains.. I’m going to go to my room guys.”

 

Jeremy walks to his room rubbing his arms, trying to calm down as he sits on his bed.

 

Then a notification.

 

 **Michael:** Hey Jer! Did ya get home safe?

 

He smiles. He totally needs to change Michael’s nickname.

 

***Michael Mell is now Micah***

 

 **Jeremy:** Yeah I did, what about you?

 

 **Micah:** Yep ;P

Oh my lord that winky face is so cringy.

 

…

 

“ _Jeremy…_ ”

 

**__**

 

 **Jer Bear:** I think I’m going to head to bed early, night Micah

 

 **Michael:** Night Jer cya tomorrow

 

Ok Jeremy never goes to bed before 11 what is going on?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk what Iḿ doing I hope it isnt bAd


	8. Get out of my Head

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A winter-green tic tac be an ass hole

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Jeremy’s eyes open wide. He jolts up from his bed.

 

_ “Jeremy…” _

 

He glances around and feels his body sting and shake. It felt like he was being electrocuted. He screams and cries for it to stop. 

 

_ “Jeremy… let me in Jeremy..” _

 

Tears prick his eyes as he cries and shakes his head. He wants to pain to stop. Now. Now. Now.

 

_ “I just want to help you Jeremy.. Let me help you..” _

 

Jeremy violently thrashes around, all of a sudden feeling held down by invisible chains. His head shakes back and forth. He doesn’t want this. Please stop. He doesn’t want this.

 

_ “You are always quite the loser.. Jeremy.” _

 

He jolts up and finds himself in his room. But wasn’t he just in his room? Was that all a dream? Is  _ this _ a dream? Was that all real or in his head?

 

A sigh comes from him. He feels like he’s going insane. It’s been around a week since he first heard the squip’s voice again. Wait. Friday night. Michael might be up.

 

He scrambles for his phone. Distraction. Distraction. Distraction.

 

**Jeremy:** Micah, u up?

 

Luckily, Jeremy doesn’t have to wait long for a reply.

 

**Micah:** Yeah, what’s up? I didn’t think you’d be the type up at 2 am. In fact, you’ve been acting a little weird all week? What’s up?

 

Jeremy feels beads of sweat drip down his face. His room felt too warm. It felt to dangerous. He needs out. He isn’t safe here. 

 

**Jeremy:** Just on edge this week. Can I come over?

 

For once, nervousness didn’t overtake him. Instead, a voice does.

 

_ “Michael.. that thing is still alive too?” _

 

His teeth dig into his lip. 

 

**Jeremy:** now?

 

_ “You shouldn’t be around him.. he’ll only stop you from reaching full potential..” _

 

**Micah:** uh sure man? Just knock instead of using the doorbell. My roommates are asleep like weirdos.

 

Without any hesitation, Jeremy bolts from his bed and changes quickly. He leaves his apartment and drives away.

 

—

 

Michael paces back and forth in his living room. What was up with Jeremy?

 

_ He realized what a freak you are. _

 

“F-freak?” Michael questions to the voices. He wonders if they’re like what Jeremy experienced during high school. 

 

A memory pops up without his consent. 

 

“Get out of my way..  _ loser _ .” 

 

Michael falls to his knees as the word repeats.

 

_ Loser. Loser. Loser. Loser. _

 

Everything begins growing dark. He can’t breathe. Why can’t he breathe? He can’t breathe. He can’t breathe. He feels sick. So so sick. Stop. The world is spinning, why is it spinning? Everything’s too dark. Why is there no light? Why. Why. Why.

 

_ Loser. Loser. Loser. _

 

No. No. Please stop. Why can’t he breath? Why is this happening again? He wants it to stop, please, please stop..

 

_ Jeremy will forget you again. He’ll forget you, loser. _

 

No. No. No. Michael doesn’t want to lose Jeremy again, why does he have to lose him? He can’t breathe. Help. He needs help. Someone.

 

_ Loser. No one wants to help you. _

 

Why? Why? Why? He doesn’t want to be forgotten, please not again. Please please. Stop stop stop. 

 

A knock. He hears a knocking. He opens his eyes and sees his living room. His breathing feels irregular. He does a quick breathing exercise before going to the door.

 

Opening it, he sees Jeremy standing there. He looks tired. 

 

Jeremy’s face etches in concern. “Michael, were you crying?”

 

Michael feels his cheek. Huh. When did he start crying?

 

He quickly thinks of a lie. “I was watching sad.. dog videos.” He smiles nervously.

 

Please let it go. Please let it go.

 

_You know you want him to ask._

 

Pff. What?

 

_You want him to help you._

 

Michael bites his lip at the thought. It’s a different voice from the other one. But both are right.

 

Jeremy raises an eyebrow, but seems to drop the subject. “Okay? Well, where can I.. uh s-sleep?”

 

Michael flushes. He. forgot. To. Make. A. Place. For. Jeremy. To. Sleep.

 

“Uh you can t-take my bed!” He blurts.

 

Jeremy blushes pink and his eyes widen. “Are you sure? Where will you sleep?”

 

Uhhhh. “The couch! I.. uh usually sleep there anyways! Hahaha…” He chuckles nervously. This is so  _ awkward. _

 

_ He’s just waiting for the moment to let you down easy. _

 

He bites his lip harder. Michael prays that isn’t the case.

 

—

 

Jeremy thinks over the past month or two. 

 

_ “O-oh, I wasn’t asleep was I?” _

_ “Here’s my number in case any *business* things come up.” _

_ “Of course! I did request the good stuff.” _

_ “Holy shit I love fun dips DEAL!”  _

_ “WE ARE… FUCKING… IDIOTS!”  _

_ “Thanks. Nice character by the way.”  _

 

He closes his eyes and tries to focus on sleep. Still, he can’t.

 

The sheets around him smell like Michael. His head plays images of the bright smiles and quirky humor. His cheery voice still lingers in his ears. 

 

Jeremy felt as if he almost was in love with Michael.

 

Love. _Love._ **_Love._**

 

_ Holy Fuck. _ “I’m in  _ love _ with Michael.”

 

He knew he was crushing on him, but… god why now. 

 

The faint humming and buzzing of the Squip makes it impossible to smile and fawn over the new realization. It’s like a bee. Buzz, buzz, buzz. Except, this buzz is electronic and closer. This buzz breathes down his neck and crawls up his spine. It’s even more uncomfortable than before, he just wants to scream. 

 

His breathing becomes unsteady as he tries to steady himself.

 

_ “Give me control, Jeremy.” _

 

_ (An: DON'T BE A LITTLE BITCH SQUIP) _

 

_ (Other AN: But we know he’s gonna be one anyway 10/10 quality content) _

 

_ (An: Stop ruining my fucking memes babe) _

 

_ (Other AN: I will when u stop yeeting them around) _

 

_ (An: You know you love my dank memes, NOW BACK TO THE GAYS!) _

 

Jeremy’s nails dig into his scalp as he tries to shove out the voice. It’s too familiar. Stop. Stop. Go away. He grits his teeth and tightens his muscles.

 

A soft knock sounds from the door. 

 

“Hello? Michael?” The voice is male, so he concludes that it’s Jake. 

 

“Michael is on the couch. It’s Jeremy here.” The dry, stiff feeling around his lungs makes his voice raspier. It comes out breathy and weak. 

 

The door creaks open. Jake’s head peeks through the crack. “Everything good, man?”

 

A cough emerges from his throat as if he is choking on air. “I don’t r-really know..” 

 

“Uhm I’m not good with this shit, MICHAEL!”

 

The silence that layers through the apartment makes Jeremy think.

 

_ What am I doing here? _

 

_ "What are you doing here?” _

 

Jeremy hears footsteps down the hallway.

 

Blood rushes through his ears. His eyesight goes blurry and his face stings. With a single finger, he pokes his cheek. It’s  **_moist_ ** and wet. Tears. Since when did he start crying? Is that why Jake left? 

 

_ “That being was thinking the same thing as me.” _

 

Jeremy bites his lip and tries to clear his mind. He can’t respond. He can’t give the Squip more power.

 

A yell makes him momentarily forget about the Squip. 

 

“HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?!” He tries to pinpoint it and it sounds close to.. but Michael never yells. Barely ever. Not like that.

 

He pushes the sheets off himself and walks down the hall. His feet patter quietly. 

 

“You’ll wake the neighbors, be quiet.” Jake hushes. 

 

Jeremy peeks out from the corner and sees Michael behind the couch standing while Jake is standing in front of him near the kitchen. 

 

“Oh of course!  _ You _ are just avoiding talking about it because you’re a goddamn coward! We all are! Except,  _ you  _ don’t know what it was like! You’ve never had to feel that way! And when we ran into each other in college? Was that friendship based off pity? Were you guilty? Thought you could fully redeem yourself?” Michael spits each word out. He looks tired and hurt. His face scrunches up tightly in exhaustion.

 

Jake’s lips purse worriedly. “Michael, I-”

 

Michael holds up a finger. “No, Nope! I don’t wanna hear it! You know that’s a trigger for me! You  _ know _ ! I’m not your pity act. And I’m  _ not  _ going to get hurt again. I don’t want to think about that again. Not now, not ever.” 

 

His feet slip into sneakers. “I need a walk. Goodbye, _ Dillinger.” _

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the ANGST ahahahaaha


	9. All by himself..

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fuck you tic tac

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy that's the tea sis

Jeremy watches as Michael slams the door in frustration behind him.

 

“Jake?” He walks into the open living room.

 

Said boy sighs and runs a hand down his face. “God dammit. That was a stupid move.”

 

He looks up at Jeremy. “Can you try talking to him? He’ll listen to you.”

 

Jeremy folds his hands over his chest. “What exactly did he mean by ‘trigger?’ What did you do to get him so angry?”

 

Jake looks at the door and sighs again. “It’s not my place to tell. I just.. I said something without thinking.”

 

He nods. “I’ll try and cheer him up. Think he’s gone far?”

 

“If he’s going for a walk, he’ll probably be heading towards the 7/11.”

 

“Okay.” And with that Jeremy slips on his shoes and walks out the apartment.

 

—

 

Michael rubs his eyes. He’s tired. He’s sad. He’s hurt. He’s alone. He hates himself. He yelled at Jake. Why is he so weak? It was only one word. 

 

_ “Optic nerve blocking on.” _

 

_ Nerve. _

 

Jake's voice rings through his head. “This insomnia shit you have is so nerve wracking man.”

 

He spits on the ground. 

 

Everything  _ sucks.  _

 

Why can’t he sleep peacefully for one  _ goddamn  _ night? Why is  _ he  _ still not over the Squip accident? Why is he such a fucking pussy? 

 

He slumps into a bench. His head lays in his cold hands.

 

Time passes. How much? He’s unsure. He hears the faint shuffling of a 24 hour store. He smells the gasoline and smoke of passing cars. He sees the darkness of his skin up close. 

 

He feels.. a hand on his shoulder.

 

“Micah?”

 

That voice… 

 

“Jeremy? What are you doing? Why are you here?” His voice is low and cold. Guarded.

 

“I s-saw you stomp out, I wanted t-to make sure you’re okay!”

 

Thump. Thump. Michael can’t tell if his heart is beating because of stress or if it is beating along in a rhythm, hoping for Jeremy’s love.

 

“Thanks, man.” His sigh afterwards is long and breathy.

 

Everything feels numb. He wishes it was high school.  _ Before _ the Squip incident.

 

Everything was carefree. It was  _ okay. _

 

—

 

Jeremy watches as the person he cares for most looks out at the unknown. He looks  _ lost _ .

 

_ Tell him. _

 

He could. Right here. He could tell Michael. Tell him he  _ loves _ him.

 

“Michael?”

 

Said boy turns his head and looks at him with glossy eyes.

 

“I-I..”

 

_ “Target male inaccessible.” _

 

Wait. What?!

 

_ “Taking control now.” _

 

“Michael. I-I”

 

A buzz. Wait.. he can’t move! Why can’t he move? He can’t speak! 

 

Everything numbs. 

 

**I’m not in control.**

 

His mouth moves and forms words that aren’t his own.

 

“ _ Michael, I hate you.”  _

 

The voice is stutter free. It rings through his head.

 

**The squip is talking over me..**

 

His mind races. He screams and bangs on the invisible bars. Michael has to know. He doesn’t mean it. He loves him. He never has ever hated him.

 

Michael’s eyes widen. He bites his lip. His entire being twitches and shivers. He looks so fucking  _ hurt. _

 

“ _ What? Thought I would love a  _ **_loser_ ** _ like you?” _

 

**How can I make it stop. Michael, I want it to stop. Please.. I love you.**

 

Michael looks straight at him and slaps him. “I can’t believe you. Just why?”

 

He sits up and storms down the sidewalk away from Jeremy.

 

**Wait! Wait! Michael! Please don’t go! I can’t lose you. PLEASE!**

 

_ “Your efforts are useless Jeremiah. That Michael  _ _ thing _ _ is gone for good.” _

 

The voice echoes in his head. It hits the walls and cracks his heart. A fuzzy form of the Squip is everywhere. It’s like he’s looking into a mirror and the reflection isn’t him. He can’t control his body.

 

His heart thumps loudly in his chest as he fights for control.

 

**Why are you doing this? I thought we got rid of you!**

 

A cackle sounds through his mind.

 

_ “Red mountain dew isn’t the shut down. Still naive I see?” _

 

Wait.. Red isn’t the shut down? How!?

 

**You are not getting away with this. Michael is the most important person in my life and you aren’t taking him away from me again!**

 

_ “Such an idiot Jeremy. I’m here for good, and I will use you HOWEVER I PLEASE!” _

 

Jeremy feels himself walking in the opposite direction. Towards his house.. Away from Michael..

 

**Stop you fucking Squid!**

 

_ “Call me that again and see what happens. Now you will not see Michael again for as long as I reign. Which is forever Jeremy.” _

 

Everything goes dark.

 

—

 

Michael can finally cross ‘having a mental break down in the corner CVS' off his bucket list.

 

_ Yay _ .

 

**He finally admitted it.**

 

Michael breathes in a shaky breath. 

 

**You knew he hated you. It was only a matter of time before he said it outloud. He hates you.**

 

His eyes flicker to the bottle of pills on the shelf. Take a few extra and he’d be dead. A quick death. Maybe a swig of some weed and it’d kick in faster. 

 

The fingers on his hand twitches. 

 

**You should do it.**

 

**Jake will be relieved.**

 

**Jenna will be entertained.**

 

**Chloe will laugh.**

 

**_Jeremy_ ** **will be ecstatic.**

 

Michael drags his knees forward.

 

“Can I help you, sir?”

 

His head whips around to see a auburn haired girl staring down at him. She is wearing a uniform and looks to be in college.

 

“I uh, yeah. Um the sedatives.” He shakily inhales. 

 

The girl squats down to look him in the eye.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

**You’ll be fine once you swallow those pills.**

 

“N-Not really.” He mumbles truthfully.

 

She sits beside him. “Killing yourself won’t fix anything.”

 

Michael lays his head back against the rough shelf. “I don’t want to feel this way.”

 

He lays his head in his hands again as the girl pats his shoulder.

 

“I know. Life can straight up suck. And I’m not even straight in the first place.” She chuckles at her own joke. 

 

Michael feels a small smile grow on his face. “Yeah. Same.”

 

She laughs. “You gay as a fucking rainbow too?”

 

He nods. “Yeah. Except the guy I love the most just told me he hates me.”

 

Another pat on the shoulder. “I wish I could say I know how it feels, but I don’t.” 

 

“It’s-” Michael starts.

 

“I  _ do  _ know though, that you can’t just chug a thing of pills and expect it to be okay.”

 

He sighs and looks up at her. His eyes flick to her name tag. Willow. 

 

Willow looks at him. “I’ve been in your position. Only difference was that I was in a McDonalds and it was 12 AM, not 3 AM.”

 

“What happened?”

 

She sighs and looks at the sky. “My best friend found me. Screamed at me for months even once I started therapy.”

 

Her eyes soften in memory. “I was a wreck. Still am.” She looks back at him.

 

“Everything happens for a reason. Don’t just jump off a bridge when you feel like it’s too hard though. Stay alive just in spite of the voices. Or even my method. Tell them to shut the fuck up and you can go watch The Office 15 times.”

 

They both chuckle and Michael nods. “Thanks, Willow.”

 

She nods. “I’ll see you around stranger.” Willow stands up, waves, and walks back down the aisle.

 

With a deep sigh. Michael heads back to his apartment.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MAN WE GETTING SPICY HOPE YOU LIKED


	10. Michael in the Bathroom..

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What will the squip do? How will Jeremy and Michael handle this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOOOOOOOOOF

 

He’s hungry. He knows that. At the same time though. He doesn’t want to eat. He doesn’t think he can. 

 

What day is it? He forgets.

 

Jeremy just lays in bed. He managed to gain control back, but not before the Squip did something unbearable.

 

He deleted Michael’s contact.

 

Now there’s no way for him to talk to him. The company recently gave every employee a break since the new game finally is done, so he can’t even go and see him. 

 

Jeremy’s head tried to recall his apartment’s address, but the Squip has power over his memory as well. He can’t for the love of  _ mother fucking  _ god remember.

 

For the millionth time this month, he cries.

 

—

 

Michael stares at the wall. That’s the only thing he’s been doing recently.

 

**He hates you.**

 

**He hates you.**

 

**Jeremy hates you.**

 

_ “Michael, I hate you.” _

 

He can’t even cry anymore. His eyes are dry and sticky from the massive amount of panic attacks.

 

Michael feels as if all color has drained. Everything feels black and white.

 

Knock. Knock. “Michael?”

 

It’s Jake’s voice.

 

“Yes?”

 

“There’s a party tonight in the building. We all think it might help. Y’know, get your mind off things.” His voice is concerned.

 

**Stay.**

 

**They don’t know what’s good for you.**

 

_ “Stay alive just in spite of the voices.” _

 

Willow’s voice echoes in his mind.

 

_ “Tell them to shut the fuck up.” _

 

“Okay. I’ll come.”

 

“There we go! Come on get ready, we’ll leave in 15.” Jake walks out and leaves Michael alone.

 

“You can do this Michael, it’s just a party right!?” He mumbles to himself.

 

—

 

Jeremy hears a knock.

 

“Jeremy, get your ass out here right now or I will set you on fire.” Rich’s voice floods through the door.

 

He groans and doesn’t move. “Rich go away.”

 

Before he knows it, his door is burst open and Rich is standing there. He’s leaning against the doorframe, crowbar in hand.

 

“WHAT THE FUCK, RICH?!”

 

Rich doesn’t flinch. He only walks forward, grabs Jeremy’s ear, and drags him down the hall.

 

“OW, OW! RICH LET ME GO!”

 

“I warned you tall ass.” Jeremy can hear the smugness in his voice.

 

When Rich reaches the couch, he lets go of his ear and shoves him on the couch. “Talk.”

 

Jeremy moves to try and leave, but all of a sudden Brooke and Christine are there blocking his ways out. 

 

All three of his roommates cross their arms and look at him expectantly.

 

“Jer, just tell us what’s up.”

 

He bites his lip and shakes his head. He notices Rich is staring intensely at him.

 

**You can’t tell them.**

 

“The Squip is back isn’t it?”

 

—

 

Michael looks at the mirror reflection of himself. 

 

_ Why am I so ugly? _

 

He tugs at the oversized sleeves of his red hoodie and frowns. 

 

_ I look so fucking shitty. _

 

He runs a hand through his hair and continues to frown at his awful reflection.

 

_ No wonder Jeremy doesn’t want me. _

 

A knock sounds at his door.

 

“You ready Michael?” Jake asks through the door.

 

Michael looks at his reflection one more time. 

 

“Doesn’t matter.”

 

_ I’ll never be good enough anyways. _

 

—

 

The party is a floor down. 

 

Michael shrinks in his hoodie. The music is too loud.

 

His hands shake and the flashing lights send shivers down his spine.

 

Jake clasps a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s have fun, okay?”

 

He nods. 

 

People swirl around him. Everything feels blurry. He loses sight of Jake.

 

_ Where is he? _

 

Michael can’t see where Jenna and Chloe are either.  _ Damnit. _

 

He shuffles through the crowds of cluttered people towards a decently less crowded wall. Standing there, he feels out of place. It’s a feeling he’s used to.

 

He was out of place in high school. He was out of place in the Squip accident. He was out of place in college. He  _ is _ out of place in his apartment. 

 

After what feels like an hour or two, the people all around him are so blurry he can’t make out their facial features. The music is all smoothed into the same sounds. Everything is too loud. He feels icky and gross. The room is too warm. Bile threatens from his throat. At least, it feels like it. 

 

Michael steps around and spots a bathroom door. He charges in and locks the door behind him.

 

**_Loser._ **

 

The word rings through his mind. It used to be such a normal word for him. High school wasn’t exactly ‘bully free.’ Then, Jeremy called him it. His only friend. His long term childhood crush. 

 

His player two.

 

And now, he feels weak. He can’t manage to not break when he hears a word related to the Squip accident. Every time somebody says something like ‘nerve’ or ‘optic’ tears build up behind his eyes and he can’t control his thoughts.

 

_ I’m pretty pathetic. _

 

Breathing. It feels… difficult. Is he even breathing? Probably.

 

**Loser.**

 

Why is everything dark, isn’t the light on? It’s too dark, why?

 

**Loser.**

 

Everything feels numb. Why does this happen?

 

Why does Jeremy hate him?

 

Michael hugs his knees as his eyes get watery. 

 

**Memories..**

 

_ “I am hanging in the bathroom..” _

 

His words are cracked and broken. 

 

_ “I could stay right here or disappear, and nobody'd even notice at all..” _

 

His heart hurts. His mind is foggy and aches. Everything just feels terrible. He remembers his conversation with Willow, but he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to hang on much longer. He feels alone.

 

_ “But I'd rather fake pee than stand awkwardly, or pretend to check a text on my phone..” _

 

**Loser.**

 

_ “Now I'm just Michael in the bathroom, Michael in the bathroom at a party..” _

 

**Loser.**

 

He crawls towards the cabinets.

 

_ “I'm just Michael who you don't know, Michael flyin' solo..” _

 

**Loser.**

 

Jeremy’s words ring through his head.

 

**‘What? Thought I would love a** **loser** **like you?’**

 

_ “Memories get erased, and I'll get replaced, with a newer, cooler version of me..” _

 

He opens the rickety cabinet through darkened blurry vision. The creaky sound it makes as it opens causes him to clench his ears in pain.  _ Too loud. _

 

**Loser.**

 

_ “Michael in the bathroom, Michael in the bathroom at a party..” _

 

**Loser.**

 

He runs his hands through the cabinet to look for what he needs. He opens and closes drawers, checking everywhere.

 

_ “I'm just Michael who you don't know, Michael flyin' solo..” _

 

**Loser.**

 

He finds a small razor. It’s what he was looking for.

 

_ “My big mistake was showing up..” _

 

**Loser.**

 

He drags the razor along his skin like it’s an art project. Scarlet liquid beads out slowly. It reminds him of wet paint.

 

_ “And I can't help but yearn _ _   
_ _ For a different time..” _

 

Why can’t everything be like when they were kids? When worrying never existed?

 

The blood drops onto the floor. It drops in a rhythmic pattern. 

 

_ “Or wish I offed myself instead _ _   
_ _ Wish I was never born _ ..”

 

**Loser, loser.**

 

_ “Rides a PT Cruiser _ _   
_ _ God he's such a loser..” _

 

His arms are covered now. Painted red. Art has always calmed him. So, why does he still feel the same? Why are the tears still spilling from his eyes?

 

**I hate you.**

 

Jeremy hates him. No denying could ever change that.

 

_ “All you know about me is my name _ _   
_ _ Awesome party I'm so glad I came.” _

 

Michael wonders how long he stays there. How long he thinks over what he did wrong.

 

Every light. Every shape. It’s foggy and messy and hard to focus on. He feels as if there isn’t any more color. Black and white. That’s what it is now. Now that his only light is gone.

 

Now that Jeremy is gone.

 

The black of nothingness takes over as he finds his eyelids drooping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH DON'T HATE ME


	11. From Memories We Learn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I LOVE THIS CHAPTER, BUT HATE IT AT THE SAME TIME BC MY BOIS FNKDUGBERUIGBERBGIU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What are my boys gonna do now oH bOy

Jake finds Michael on the bathroom floor.

 

Dry blood is sticking to his clothes and arms. 

 

Jake doesn’t know how he’ll explain the red on the tiles to the owners..

 

—

 

Jeremy’s eyes widen as he stares blankly at Rich.

 

In the corners of his eyes he sees Christine and Brooke also staring at him in shock.

 

Rich doesn’t seem affected. “I knew it. Why didn’t you tell us?”

 

Brooke looks at him in panicky confusion. “How is it still there? I thought we got rid of it?”

 

These questions brings Jeremy out of his daze. “I-I don’t know..”

 

_ “You do know, Jeremy..” _

 

**No..**

 

Jeremy’s small smile tightens. He forces it to stay. “Can you help me? I want  _ it _ out.”

 

He feels a hand on his shoulder and turns to see Christine smiling encouragingly. 

 

A shock ruins the moment.

Electric waves pulse through him and he screeches. He curls over and hugs his stomach in pain.

 

_ “I’m hurt Jeremy. I thought we were beginning to form a bond!” _

 

**I’ll never bond with a robotic demon like you.**

 

_ “Very well. I’ll just have some fun then.” _

 

Another shock. It feels as if he is malfunctioning machine, sparking and buzzing all over the place in pain. He imagines level 3 of Apocalypse of the Damned, he kept dying to the electrical outlets.

 

Zap. Buzz. Spark.

 

“ACH- SQUIP- AH- CAN’T- HELP!”

 

His vision blurs. Acid pricks his eyes. His heart thumps in a strange pattern in his chest.

 

Jeremy screams. It hurts, so much. It feels like flames are crawling up his sides and burning his insides. 

 

**Stop. Please** ..

 

The squips voice echoes through his skull.  _ “Why should I, Jeremy.” _

 

_ “I’ve always liked the sound of your screams.” _

 

—

 

Michael cracks an eye open and immediately closes it.  _ Too bright.. _

 

He hears Jake’s voice boom. “Want to tell me about what the fuck happened last night?” 

 

Memories flicker through his mind.  _ Oh shit. _

 

“J-Jake! I can explain!” He sits up and pulls his hair panickedly. His breathing slowly becomes erratic.

 

Fuck fuck fuck. Jake saw him. Jake saw him. No. Why fuck. 

 

A hand is placed on his shoulder. His hand is grabbed gently and placed on a surface. He focuses on a beat and let’s the voice guide his breathing.

 

Once he’s back to normal, he looks at Jake in fear. “I.. Jake..”

 

Jake shakes his head and holds up a finger. “No. I don’t want excuses. When did you start again? I thought you stopped a little after college? What happened with Jeremy?”

 

Michael looks at the ground solemnly. “I don’t want to talk about it.” He thinks over everything. Rethinking the moment with Jeremy. A thought pops in his head.

 

“Jake! Please, can you pass me my laptop?”

 

His roommate looks confused, but shrugs and passes him his laptop.

 

Michael turns it on and opens Google.

 

Research has always been a talent of his.

 

—

 

Rich watches in horror as his friend and roommate shakes on the couch. His body spazzes and jolts. 

 

His head spins around to look at Brooke and Christine. Brooke is frozen in shock and horror. Christine is frantically looking around and trying to find a way to make it stop.

 

He thinks over what he knows about squips. It’s obvious that Jeremy’s squip is the one doing this. What could fix this… then an idea hits. 

 

In a matter of seconds, he’s running to the fridge and digging through it. He finds a single half bottle of red Mountain Dew. 

 

Rich grabs it and sprints over to Jeremy. He shoves his mouth open and forces the soda down his throat. 

 

They all wait. 

 

The shaking stops. Jeremy pushes himself up into a sitting position. He turns to his friends.

 

“Guys..”

 

He breaths in shakily. “Red Mountain Dew isn’t the shut down.

 

Rich freezes. 

 

Fucking hell.

 

—

 

Michael looks at multiple forums. He’s been looking through articles and anything he thinks might give him the information he needs. It’s been a few hours since he started his research.

 

Jake eventually decided to just sit beside him on his bed. Chloe and Jenna joined them an hour ago. Chloe scrolls through her phone, listening as Jenna talks with Jake about gossip she heard at work. She works for a magazine. 

 

Michael doesn’t pay attention to their conversation, but the noise keeps him grounded while he types away. 

 

He comes across a conversation on a random forum.

 

**|Question|**

**NonbinaryRoyalty:** _ So like my friend recently started acting super strange af. She like completely sucked at handling customers, but recently she’s acting super charismatic and shit. She’s never NOT been nervous at work and around strangers, but now i havent seen her be nervous in weeks. Even when im hanging out with her on our own, she just seems so much more brave and different. This all happened super suddenly too, so it’s not like she was working on it. It happened super suddenly. Anyone experience this as well and know whats up? _

 

**|Top Response|**

 

**LesbiGal:** _ my girlfriend went tots weird too _

 

**NonbinaryRoyalty:** _ like the same thing as my friend? _

 

**LesbiGal:** _ yeah but she’s fine now tho _

 

**NonbinaryRoyalty:** _ what happened? _

 

**LesbiGal:** _ we went to a gas station one day and i got us some drinks. Took one sip and she started acting more ‘herself’ _

 

Michael pauses. Is the drink she talking about red Mountain Dew? He continues to read.

 

**NonbinaryRoyalty:** _ what was the drink _

 

**LesbiGal:** _ blue mtn dew i think i dont remember for sure, it was like two years ago _

 

Michael shuts his laptop. He doesn’t need to read more.

 

He makes an audible gasp and his roommates look at him questioningly.

 

“Blue Mountain Dew is the shut down.”

 

—

 

Jeremy can’t sleep. He’s too worried he’ll wake up and the Squip will be back. So instead, he occupies himself and continuously chugs bottles of red Mountain Dew. 

 

He knows it doesn’t shut the Squip down for good. He  _ does _ know however, that it seems to at least ‘pause’ the Squip. 

 

Then he runs out, so he goes to the store. It’s around midnight. He decides to stop at a 24/7 gas station.

 

He steps inside and goes to the fridges in the back. He spots Mountain Dew. They have green and red. Jeremy finds himself glaring at the green. 

 

**Fucking soda ruined my life.**

 

Sighing, he grabs a load of red sodas and walks to the counter. The person at the counter looks at him with an eyebrow raised.

 

His eyes scan the cashier’s nametag. At the top it has a scribble.  _ ‘They/Them’ _ Hmm. Below it says  _ ‘Skye’ _

 

Skye smirks as he gets closer. “Think you need anymore Mountain dew?”

 

Jeremy smiles awkwardly. “I might actually.” All of a sudden, his bladder kicks in. “Oh god…” He groans in annoyance. “Could you maybe hold on a second? I need to use the bathroom.”

 

He hears someone yell “Oí bueno!” from the back. Skye smirks at the voice and turns to yell behind them.

 

“If you’re going to say something Spanish, say the right phrase!” They chuckle a little.

 

From the back, the voice yells “Oh dios mío is too hard! Oí bueno is better, you can’t fight me on it babe!” 

 

Jeremy is thoroughly confused and has to pee extremely bad, so he waves to get Skye’s attention back. “So, uh can I..?”

 

They turn to him and nod. “Bathroom’s down that way. Sorry for my girlfriend, she’s extra.” 

 

“HEY! WHAT’S WRONG WITH THAT!?” A girl peeks her head around the corner. 

 

(An: I love her too much wTh)

 

(Other AN: And yes Skye and the ‘voice’ represent us. Ice is Skye ;p)

 

He smiles at their antics and goes down the hall while they continue. 

 

When he enters the bathroom he finds himself frowning. A memory from before the Squip accident pops in his head.

 

~~

 

Jeremy smiles as his friend dances humorously. 

 

“C’mon Jer!  _ Sabes que mis caderas no mienten~ _ ” Michael sings. He shimmies his hips along to match the song playing from his phone.

 

(Other AN: He’s singing Hips Don’t Lie by Shakira in case u don’t know spanish X3)

 

“ _ Y estoy empezando a sentir que está bien~ _ ” He wiggles his eyebrows at Jeremy. “ _ Toda la atracción, la tensión,” _

 

Jeremy giggles at his antics. “Michael, you are so  _ fucking _ extra.” 

 

Michael pauses the song. “Thank you, I always knew I was born extra majestic. Like Bob Marley.” 

 

This only goes to send Jeremy into an even larger giggle fit. 

 

His friend squawks indignantly. “What!?” 

 

“Bob- Marley?” Jeremy questions between laughs and wheezes.

 

“BOB MARLEY IS A QUEEN YOU THOT!” 

 

~~

 

Jeremy sighs and washes his hands. He misses Michael’s company. He thinks it’s been a little over a week since they last spoke. A sigh reverberates through his throat.

 

The fact he may never see Michael again because of this damn tic tac makes him want to scream. This is so stupid.. He just wants his best friend back. He wants to see the boy that he loves.

 

With a twist of his hand, he shuts the door and walks back to the cash register. Skye is talking to the girl screaming from before. When they notice Jeremy, they turn to the register. “This all?” 

 

The girl behind them giggles and looks straight at Jeremy. “Might want to tempt away from so much soda regularly, by the way.” Her face straightens as she looks at him seriously. “Drinking soda on a frequent pattern can cause poorer memory, smaller overall brain volume, and significantly smaller hippocampus.” She recites this. 

  
Skye smirks. “You damn nerd.” The girl shoves them playfully. 

 

**“You’re a big ol’ nerd yourself, Jer”**

 

Jeremy ignores the memory. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He sees a slushy machine. Before he can control himself, he walks over and pours a small blue raspberry and cherry slushie. Michael’s favorite. 

 

“I’ll get this too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi hope this was good ksksskskskskssk


	12. Gay Disasters and Gas Stations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *James Charles voice* hOoOOo mY GoOOoD

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well then

 

Michael is shattering.

 

He knows what happened. It was the Squip... right?

 

Or… was it actually Jeremy?

 

Thoughts swirl through his head. 

 

_ It was Jeremy.  _ **It was the Squip.** _ It was Jeremy.  _ **It was the Squip.** _ It was Jeremy.  _ **It was the Squip.**

 

**_Who the fuck was it?_ **

 

If red isn’t the shutdown… that means the Squip is still active. What is he thinking! Jeremy would never say that to him! Right…?

 

“Michael you okay?”

 

**Or would he?**

 

Michael jumps off the couch in shock. “Damn it Jake, what are you doing?”

 

**Jeremy’s seems to not have changed much..**

 

“You seemed a bit out of it, just wanted to check on you.”

 

**He would, wouldn’t he?**

 

“I’m perfectly great.. I think I’m going to head to the store.”

 

**‘Loser.’**

 

__

 

Jeremy sits on a bench with Rich. (Not by choice.) 

 

Rich had decided that Jeremy needed to go ‘out’ more while he is on break from work. So here they are, sitting on a park bench right next to the CVS / Gas station. 

 

He just watches as Rich checks out hot girls and guys. Jeremy can’t do that though, the only guy on  _ his _ mind is Michael.

 

Michael. The gorgeous nerd. The guy who sings Hips don’t lie in Spanish. The guy he is so kinda into. The idiot who he loves to see laugh. His best friend. His everything. 

 

The guy across the street.

 

Wait.. FUCKING HOLY MOTHER OF COWS?!

 

His roommate looks at him with an eyebrow raised. Did he just say that out loud? Fucking hell. 

 

“Jeremy, what in the ever loving fuck was that about?” 

 

“I-IT’S HIM! RICH IT’S HIM!”

 

Rich smirks. He waves his hand in the air. “Oh no Jesus, please don’t send me to hell, I know I’ve sinned, but I have so many more porns to wat-”

 

“Rich no! God damn, MICHAEL’S HERE! FUCKING MICHAEL IS HERE RIGHT NOW!” Jeremy whisper shouts. He doesn’t want Michael to see him. No way in hell.

 

“Oh shit.” Rich’s smirk drops.

 

_ “Oh I see you finally found your little friend. Hmm seems about time to activate your optic nerve blocking once more.” _

 

Jeremy panics. “Rich, I need mountain dew NOW! Keep an eye on Michael!!”

 

He speeds into the gas station. Grabbing the closest mountain dew red, he nearly slams into the counter. 

 

Familiar voices ring through the air. “SKYE GET YOUR NON BINARY ASS OUT THERE I HEARD SOMEONE”

 

“Okay, okay! Damn woman you need to calm down.”

 

Ah it’s the couple again.  _ Maybe they won't recognize him- _

 

“Oh, Hello mountain dew dude! Come for more I assume?”

 

The voice yells from the back. “SKYE IT’S THAT GUY AGAIN ISN’T IT?!” Said person runs behind the counter. “Oh, elo dude. Gotta use the peepee again before paying?” She snickers at her own ‘joke.’ She reminds him of Michael.

 

Jeremy reads this girl’s name tag.  _ Bec.  _ She/Her was scribbled on her badge, in the same writing as Skye’s.

 

“Heh, not this time guys. Just need some more you know the deal.” He sighs.

 

Bec nods. “It’s almost like you have a Squip or something.” She chuckles.

 

Jeremy freezes.  **What?**

 

“Bec you don’t just go around mentioning that!” They look worried now.

 

Bec lowers her voice and whispers. “Look Skye it isn’t gonna happen again alright? She got help in the end, remember?”

 

“Do you guys know something that I don’t? Do you know how to get rid of this thing?” 

 

Skye and Bec’s eyes widen. “You mean… you have one… still?” Skye asks.

 

“Yes! And I’ve lost a lot because of this FUCKING TIC TAC!”

 

_ “I am not a tic tac Jeremy, that is greatly insulting.” _

 

Without thinking Jeremy quickly opens and chugs one of the bottles.

 

“Crap. Sorry, he was talking and I-”

 

Bec waves her hand. “Don’t worry, it’s on the house. I know what Squips can be like. Skye, my friend, and I have all been through a lot because of them. Thing is, I don’t remember how to shut it down. I’m sorry.” She faces Skye. “Wait, you think Willow knows?”

 

“SHE MIGHT! How did we not think of this before! Willow was able to shut her girlfriends Squip off completely recently I remember now!”

 

“Mountain dew dude, go across to the CVS and ask Willow for help. She should be working right now.” Bec begins shoving Jeremy out the door. “Oh and she usually works in the back sections.”

 

“Thank you, I’m Jeremy by the way.”

 

The couple nods and give him a thumbs up. “Good luck, Jeremy.” Skye says.

 

Jeremy sure hopes he won’t need it.

 

—

 

Michael spots who he’s looking for at the back of the CVS. 

 

“Willow!” 

 

Said girl spins around and waves. “Hey Michael, what’cha need? Not pills I hope.”

 

He shakes his head. “No, but I um… Do you have blue mountain dew?”

 

_ Please have it. _

 

She looks at him and whispers. “Squip?” 

 

_ Fucking hell? _

 

His eyes widen. “Yeah. Remember that guy I mentioned?”

 

Understanding sinks into her face. “Girlfriend had one, but yeah. We have blue mountain dew.” She moves to go into the back, but a small device on her wrist beeps. 

 

“Fuck, one sec Michael. Some kid’s here for me. Damn you, Skye. They really need to work on their short notices.” She turns to him. “Come with me, I should be able to deal with this guy quickly.”

 

Michael nods. “Okay.”

 

The two walk down the aisles until they reach another employee. He stands there looking annoyed as fuck. 

 

Michael wishes the world would swallow him up and throw him out the window. Though, he finds the idea of yeeting out a window right now extremely tempting. 

 

Jeremy stands beside the employee.

 

Jeremy his best friend. Jeremy the most amazing human being in the world.

 

_ Jeremy,  _ the boy who broke his heart by telling him he hates him. 

 

“Michael?” His ‘best friend’ looks at him in surprise. Tears slowly fall from his big blue eyes. Eye bags line his skin and he’s carrying two bottles of red mountain dew. 

 

He can’t do this. He can’t face him, not yet. More time, he needs more time to put himself together.

 

“Jeremy, what are you doing here?” His voice is shaky and he knows his body is too. Why, why this reminder. It really  _ was _ Jeremy, right? This proves it.

 

Willow puts a hand on his shoulder. “Michael breathe, I don’t want a repeat of last week.”

 

“Last week? What happened last week!?” Jeremy sounds concerned. 

 

How dare he act like it didn’t happen? Why does he have to make this so hard for Michael? He just wants to be left alone without reminders of how the boy he’s loved since  _ fucking _ middle school, hates him.

 

Suddenly he feels arms around him. He can feel the unsteady breathing of the boy against him.

 

He shoves the arms away. “Fuck off,  _ Jeremiah. _ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)


	13. To Fall, To Rise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *JAMES CHARLES VOICE* WOAHHHHHHHH MY GODDDDDDDDD

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You'll love me

Jeremy has never felt so sad in his life.

 

“Fuck off,  _ Jeremiah. _ ”

 

Michael glares at him with tears starting to fall from his eyes. The employee he had bothered and Willow (he guesses the girl is Willow) walk away from the aisle to give them more privacy.

 

“Michael i-i…”

 

“You can’t do this to me! You can’t say you hate me and treat me like shit and then come back and act like you  _ FUCKING _ care!” Michael begins to sob, but he continues yelling. 

 

“Micah..please I-”

 

“NO! I can’t do this! I don’t want anymore reminders of how I CAN NEVER GET OVER YOU! I couldn’t with Christine, with anyone!” Michael crouches and rubs his eyes. “I can’t handle my heart being broken again..” His voice is quiet.

 

“Michael… it was… it… it took control of me… I couldn’t move… I couldn’t stop it… I’M SORRY!” Jeremy falls to his knees, tears streaming more than ever. He hugs Michael tightly.

 

“I’m so, so, so, so fucking sorry. I’m trying to turn it off. But I don’t know how!” 

 

“Blue..” Michael whispers. 

 

“What?”

 

Michael looks up at him and after a shaky breath, “Blue mountain dew. It’s the shutdown.”

 

Jeremy looks up and spots a line of sodas. He jumps up and yoinks open the fridge. Grabbing the blue colored soda, he chugs it down his throat.

(AN: Yoinks is a great word oK)

 

(OTher aN: Love me some yOinkbeLts and yeEtbelTs)

 

(An: Babe no-)

 

(Other aN: BaBe yEs)

 

_ “JEREMY~ HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME! WE WERE BEST FRIENDS WE COULD HAVE TAKEN OVER THE WO-W-WORLD! JEEERRREMMYYY” _

 

Screams echo through his mind. He can feel the Squip draining away.

 

He feels really tired…

 

And then silence. Everything feels like it’s numbing.

 

Maybe he’ll take a quick nap…

 

His eyes shut and everything goes black.

 

—

 

“Jeremy? Jer!?” Michael is now holding Jeremy in his arms. 

 

He checks for a pulse. Oh thank the heavens that created Bob Marley.

 

Wait no, not the time Michael. 

 

Since this may be his last chance before he never gets to again, Michael leans down and pecks Jer’s forehead.

 

_ He probably won’t remember how I totally confessed to being gay as shit for him, right? _

 

Carrying him bridal style, he walks out the CVS. With a quick thanks to Willow on the way out.

 

Michael plops Jeremy in his PT Cruiser and off he goes to his apartment.

 

—

 

Chloe just stares. “Michael. Why is there a dead body on our couch?”

 

She hears a screech. “CHLOE NO!”

 

With a roll of her eyes, she sits beside Jeremy’s unconscious corpse. Her phone opens up and she begins to scroll through instagram. And  _ yes _ , she may or may not like a few of Brooke Lohst’s selfies as well. C’mon, some people just gotta be gay.

 

Michael walks in and kneels beside Jeremy. He puts a wash cloth on his forehead and puts a water bottle on the table beside the couch. “He’s okay. Chloe, we finally got rid of it.”

 

“FINALLY RID OF THAT MALWARE RIDDLED, HALF BYTE BEAT UP BENT SCRATCHED UP FLOPPY DISK OF A WINTERGREEN TIC TAC!” He pumps his hand into the air in victory.

 

(An: Thank you to Castor_Raiden in my comments for this lovely insult to the squip xD!)

 

(Other An: U guys have very interesting comments x3)

 

“DID I HEAR TIC TAC?”

 

“WHERE’S THE BITCH!?” 

 

Oh boy here comes Jenna and Jake.

 

Chloe’s two other roommates burst into the living room. 

 

—

 

Michael waves his hands frantically. “W-Wait! You guys need to calm down! It’s okay!”

 

Chloe smirks. “Jeremy’s just dead.”

 

He jumps nervously and waves his hands in the air more intensely. “JEREMY IS FINE! SHE’S KIDDING!” He chuckles nervously. “T-The  **_Squid_ ** is gone now though! SO yAy!” He does jazz hands awkwardly.

 

They all stare at him blankly. 

 

Jenna speaks up “You’re fucking with us right?”

 

“About what? Chloe  _ is  _ kidding, I swear.” Michael hates this so very much right now. God can Jeremy just wake up and be his witness right now?

 

Jake raises an eyebrow. “No, Michael how the fuck is The Squip gone?”

 

Oh. He chuckles nervously. “Uh, blue mountain dew, remember?”

 

“I thought you were joking about that! It’s seriously the shut off?” 

 

“Yeah, and he’s free now.” Michael looks longingly at Jeremy. 

 

“Just hope he wakes up soon so I can talk to the real him again.”

 

Chloe looks up from her phone. “I’m sure he will ya worry wort. A super computer was just removed from his brain so I would assume he needs to ‘recharge’ if you’d like to call it that.”

 

“I know I’ve just… missed him.” 

 

He feels something grab his hand.

 

“Mi..cah..?” His favorite voice rings in the air.

 

Michael turns to see Jeremy looking up at him tiredly. Tears prick his eyes as he hears his roommates walk down the hall.

 

“Oh my fuck...” He hugs Jeremy tightly. 

 

“What happened?” He feels the boy hug back weakly.

 

“Squip is gone. That fucking ass of a breath mint is gone.” They sit there hugging tightly for what feels like forever.

 

Until Jeremy speaks again. And damn was Michael praying for this not to happen. 

 

—

 

Jeremy remembers something before he passed out.

 

_ “I don’t want anymore reminders of how I CAN NEVER GET OVER YOU! I couldn’t with Christine, with anyone!” _

 

_ “I can’t handle my heart being broken again..” _

 

Did Michael mean…

 

“What did you mean earlier?”

 

Michael freezes and separates from the hug. Jeremy pretends not to miss it.

 

“W-What do you mean?” He stutters. That’s odd.

 

He doesn’t look Jeremy in the eye. 

 

“When y-you said that stuff about not being able t-to like… ‘get over’ me. What d-did you mean by that?”

 

Michael’s face flushes a pink. He looks straight at the ground. The pink compliments his tan. 

 

“What d-do  _ you  _ think it means?” His eyes peek up to look at him.

 

“W-Well I h-hope it means s-something, but I s-sure know what I m-mean.”

 

Without thinking Jeremy pulls Michael forward and presses their lips together.

 

Michael squeaks in surprise. Jeremy quickly realizes what he’s doing and pulls back.

 

“I-I’m sorry M-Micah. I knew t-this was a m-mista-“

 

“OH FUCK NO!” Michael kisses him. 

 

Jeremy melts into it and sinks into the warm feeling. Michael’s glasses bonk into his nose and he giggles against his lips.

 

He leans back. Michael looks at him confused. “Why did you stop?” 

 

With a small chuckle, Jeremy pulls of Michael’s glasses. “WAIT JER I WON’T BE ABLE TO S-“ 

 

Michael’s shouts get cut off by Jeremy kissing him again.

 

—

 

_ Oh my fuck. _

 

_ Oh my fuck. _

 

_ Oh my fuck. _

 

_ He’s kissing Jeremy. FOR THE THIRD TIME. _

 

Michael feels on cloud nine. He wraps his arms around Jeremy’s neck. Jeremy tangles his hands into Michael’s brown hair. 

 

“That’s gay.” He hears a familiar voice speak behind them.

 

Jeremy and him jump back. Sitting on the seat next to the couch is a certain Chloe Valentine. 

 

“No, don’t let me stop you. Have at it, I heard gay sex is hot.” She scrolls on her phone.

 

Well, TOMATO ACTIVATED. Jeremy and him flush bright red. 

 

_ God this is embarrassing. _ .

 

All of a sudden, Jeremy’s phone goes off. Michael spots Rich’s contact.

 

Why so many interruptions… 

 

He bites down a groan and tries not to pout at the situation.

 

Guess he’ll be gay later.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you love me yet?


	14. The Guy I am so into

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end of an era

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has been a wild journey and I hope you all enjoyed this fan fic!

Michael stares out the window. The bus bumps around shakily. 

 

If Jeremy didn’t mean what he said a few weeks ago, did he mean what he said in that stupid bathroom years ago?

 

~~

 

“Or you’ll what?”

 

“Get out of my way.”

 

Michael felt his shoulder being harshly pushed aside.

 

“ **Loser”**

 

~~

 

Michael shivers. What is Jeremy to him now? They’ve both been awkward ever since they removed Jeremy’s Squip. 

 

He doesn’t know what to think anymore. He just wants everything to work itself out. 

 

The bus screeches to a stop at his apartment complex and he’s on his way.

 

— 

 

Jeremy doesn’t know what to think. 

 

_ WE KISSED! _

 

The feeling of the event pops into his mind for the millionth time.

 

“Thinking about Michael?”

 

He glances at Christine in the corner of his eye. He turns to face her.

 

“Y-yeah..”

 

“Look I know you guys almost better than you know yourselves. You can work this out.”

 

“I just don’t want to ruin our friendship Christine..”

 

Michael was his first friend, the first person to be nice to him. He doesn’t want to mess anything up.

 

“Jeremy Heere. That boy cares about you as much and maybe more than you care about him. Nothing could ruin your bond, just go talk to him!”

 

— 

 

“I don’t know what to do Jake!”

 

Michael flops onto the couch.

 

“I don’t know what to tell you, just talk with him?”

 

“Ughhhhh. But Jake! What if I mess things up? What if he doesn’t like me that way? What if this ruins our friendship? What if-”

 

“Oh my fucking god, Michael. You two are the closest people I know. Nothing is gonna be ruined!”

 

“But what if-”

 

Jake groans. “Just  _ go _ talk to him.”

 

“Fine! Fine. Fine!”

 

Michael grabs his hoodie and heads to the door. It opens to reveal Jeremy, his hand about to knock.

 

“Jeremy!?”

 

“Michael?!”

 

“I was just about to go talk to you!” They say in unison.

 

“Finally you fucking gay disasters.”

 

Jeremy blushes red. “I’m technically Bi!”

 

Jake rolls his eyes. “Yeah but you’re gay for Michael and Michael is gay for you so, ‘Gay Disasters’ works.” He walks down the hall.

 

“MICHAEL LET’S GO SOMEWHERE MORE PRIVATE AHAHAHA!”

 

“WHAT A FANTASTIC IDEA YEAH HAHA!”

 

—

 

Jeremy fiddles with his hands. 

 

They decided to head to the arcade, but ended up just awkwardly sitting in Michael’s car and not going inside.

 

Michael is currently wiping his glasses for the fiftieth time. 

 

Jeremy grabs his glasses.

 

“Hey! I can’t see without those!”

 

“Sh- this is g-going to make it easier f-for me.” 

 

Jeremy breathes shakily and glances at Michael. 

 

“So um. I uh. Say there’s this person that I’m kinda into?”

 

Michael nods. “I’ve got one of those too.” He looks outside the window.

 

Jeremy scratches the back of his head. “Well say that this guy I’m kinda into recently kissed me- er well after I kissed him. What should I do?”

 

Silence. And then quietly, “Well do you like this guy?”

 

“I love h-him.” 

 

Michael goes red. “W-well you should tell him that.”

 

Jeremy nods. “I guess that’s true. Hey Michael?”

 

“Y-yeah?” Michael looks at Jeremy.

 

“I love you, Micah.” 

 

He blushes red. “I love you too, Jer.”

 

Jeremy ignores the flaming heat in his cheeks. “Can I uh, can I kiss you again?”

 

Michael nods. “Only if I can kiss you again, too.”

 

He faces Jeremy. “Also, can I get my glasses ba-”

 

Jeremy kisses him. 

 

_ I did it! I did it! _

 

He breaks away far enough to speak. “Nah, I kinda want to keep them.”

 

Michael pouts. “Are you just going to let me be blind for the rest of my life?”

 

Jeremy hums. “I think I need some convincing.”

 

“OH YOU LIL PUNK!” Michael grabs Jeremy’s shoulders. 

 

He wraps his arms around Jeremy’s neck as he moves his head to deepen the kiss.

 

Jeremy wraps his own arms around Michael’s neck.

 

Michael breaks away. “That good enough.”

 

Jeremy hums. “I don’t think I’m fully convinced yet.”

 

“Oh my fucking-”

 

“How about this, I’ll give them back after you go on a date with me.”

 

Michael frowns. “I can’t wait until we have our first date, idiot.”

 

“I suppose you don’t want to be blind for that long, so how about we have a date now? Arcade is right in front of us.”

 

Michael pouts. “I’m not dressed for a date.”

 

“Shh- you look fine.”

 

“I- Oh my god just give me my glasses and let’s go Jer.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment if you would want a part 2 or if you think this is a good ending!

**Author's Note:**

> Again sorry it's so short!!! This chapter is a test run for me!
> 
> Hope you still enjoyed!


End file.
